Metro's practice of skipping stations when trains are running late is sometimes a justifiable way for the operator to improve its on-time performance, Victoria's Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder said.

Metro met its monthly punctuality target for a record 25th consecutive month in May, prompting Mr Mulder to boast that Melbourne's trains are vastly more reliable now than they were under the former Labor government.

A total of 92.7 per cent of Metro's trains ran on time in May, an improvement of 10 percentage points on the May 2010 figure of 82.7 per cent. Metro is contractually obliged to run 88 per cent of trains on time each month, or be financially penalised. It receives bonuses for meeting its targets.

Mr Mulder said Melbourne's trains were not yet as punctual as they should be, because the public invested huge sums of money in public transport and deserved a "dividend". He would now push Metro to run 95 per cent of trains on time.

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"We don't accept that 88 per cent, which is the benchmark for Metro, we think that they should do better," Mr Mulder said.

"Public Transport Victoria are pushing them to do better. We think it should be closer to 95 per cent and all of the work and all of the investment that we're making, we're going to push them as hard as we can to get that improved punctuality," he said.

Yet Metro's strong punctuality performance over the past two years is driven in part by its practice of skipping stations when trains fall behind time. Mr Mulder said the practice was rare, but a necessary strategy to ensure delays on one line did not spread across the network.

"Skipping is monitored closely by PTV," he said. "You will get incidents on the network that will mean you've got five or six trains that are held up on the network. Under those sorts of circumstances, rather than have five or six trains slowly make their way along that particular line, there will be a decision made in the best interests of the entire network, to perhaps skip a station, but I point out the number of occasions in which that occurs are very small indeed."

The Napthine government on Friday released punctuality figures for select railway lines in Melbourne, compared with results from four years ago. There has been consistent improvement. Lines that have experienced the greatest jump include Frankston, which rose from 62.6 to 90.7 per cent; Pakenham, 65.6 to 85.2 per cent; and Werribee, 75.7 to 90.2 per cent.

A train is considered "on time" if it arrives at its destination less than five minutes late or one minute early, under the terms of Metro's franchise agreement with the state.

144 comments

I would like Mr Mulder to be waiting at a station expecting the train to stop and it goes wizzy past. Public Transport is supposed to be for the public not for Metro Trains to meet their monthly quotas. If the service was running efficiently the need to skip stations would be unnecessary. Try it sometimes Mr Mulder when you are in a hurry but do not insult the travelling public by saying it is okay for Metro Trains to skip stations. We are paying through the nose for this 'service' (and I used the term advisedly) and we should get a decent service not trains playing hopskotch.

Commenter

Mary

Location

elaine.pearson@monash.edu

Date and time

June 06, 2014, 12:40PM

+1 MaryIn what world this guys lives ? There is no day that trains are not late/cancelled or full (so no one get get on the train).Terry and his government (previous one too) should be taken to court and charged/convicted for their lies and PT mismanagement. Melbourne Metro is the worst PT I ever traveled on.

Commenter

Tesla

Location

Carnegie

Date and time

June 06, 2014, 1:07PM

We're never short of a whinger.Mulder said "it a necessary strategy to ensure delays on one line did not spread across the network." He doesn't say it is okay to skip for no reason.If 2 trains are supposed to be 10 mins apart an the first one is running 8 minutes late (and getting later with the overcrowding that results in peak hour) isn't skipping some stations (with a proper annoucement to those on board) better than the train getting slower and slower until it delays the one behind it too?If anyone can't see that then they are just whingers, plain and simple.And we are not paying through the nose as you say. The taxpayer subsidises public transport massively and $7.20 a day is a lot cheaper than petrol and parking for most.

Commenter

John

Location

Caulfield

Date and time

June 06, 2014, 1:33PM

It isn't just about people getting ON either. I would like Mr Mulder to be a school child missing their station. I made a formal complaint a couple of years ago about my child getting on the Sandringham line and trains suddenly turning into express trains and whizzing past her station - there are NO express trains on this line. Getting off at some strange random station can be frightening.It is an utter disgrace that an idiot that doesn't have a clue how the system works or who it affects makes the dumbest decisions that affect so many. The decision to not have single use tickets was also made politicians listening to dumb dumb bean counters. It was designed to have single use ticket as part of the mix so if your myki fails or only occasional users want to travel they can without having a Myki card.

Commenter

Caroline

Date and time

June 06, 2014, 1:44PM

@John."Never short of a whinger"

We are also never short of someone making personal attacks either.

I'm guessing John that you haven't been inconvenienced by this occurrence very often? This morning I caught my usual 9:12am pakenham train (Which left the station @ 9:09am, I even a took a picture of this with my phone, as the day before I missed my train because it left early, forcing me to drive in) and still an announcement came over the PA at South Yarra saying that due to late running, this train will run directly to Flinders, now while I'm grateful for the announcement, which on many occasions I never get, I'm very annoyed that it can leave early, and still arrive late, and yet I'm the one who has to be inconvenienced by this, while Metro taut perfect stats for the past 25 months. Please.

I agree that skipping is required under certain circumstances so as not to affect many other services, however. Shouldn't Metro be liable for this? Surely this should be viewed as a incomplete journey.

Let's say for example, I arrive at my train station at 9:10am, 2 minutes before my train is due to leave, only to find that it's already left... OK, wait for the next one... +30mins. 9:42am catch the train. It arrives at South Yarra, I'm informed it's running express to Flinders Street. Fine, add +3 mins for me changing platforms to catch the first available city loop train, and let not forget that the train is already running late, hence the need to skip the city loop. So that's another +5 mins minimum... 38min+ delay, and yet this is acceptable, and even bonus worth in the eyes of Terry Mulder?

And I pay $2000 a year for this 'privilege'.

Commenter

Aaron

Location

Pakenham

Date and time

June 06, 2014, 2:11PM

Ahhh John from Caulfield, no doubt you are able to smugly make such comments as your station is service by two lines and NO train EVER runs through Caulfield without stopping. Period.

Perhaps read the excellent comment from Caroline for some persepctive that other people who need to use lesser stations have to put up with.

It is all just about protecting the private operator from paying compensation.

As for Mulder?

Apart from probably not even knowing where his own station in Colac is, I would love to see his Govt car sweep past his house one day without picking him up as it was running behind schedule...

Commenter

Mozza

Location

Highton (the multicultural heart of Corrangamite)

Date and time

June 06, 2014, 2:23PM

@John, may be you should take a train from second class station, which are usually skipped by express trains, and explain your feeling when you desperately need to get on a train and it whizz pass you as it gets late. Whinging? may use trains in Japan or Dubai. our train infrastructure is no where closer to first world countries and we call our selves first world country. 7:50 full day ticket, use a train in dubai, full day ticket is cheaper then 7.50 AUD. We are all hallucinating here .

Commenter

iceman

Location

malvern

Date and time

June 06, 2014, 2:30PM

@John. Regarding the taxpayer subsidies for public transport - that is a moot point - roads are heavily subsidised by taxpayers too, to and even greater extent.

I agree skipping stations to keep to a timetable is acceptable. If trains were not overcrowded, there would be less delays as people tried to cram on. The network changes are going to allow more services.

Lets face it, what's the point of stopping at a station if no one can possibly get on?

Commenter

Jase

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

June 06, 2014, 2:45PM

I am tending to agree with Mulder on this one. Look at the detail. This is going to apply where the system has multiple trains probably no more than 10 minutes apart and in some instances 2 minutes apart. The rail and tram system should get to the point where trains and trams are frequent enough that it doesn't require a timetable as the wait would be 10 mins or less. There are so many transport options as you get closer to the CBD with multiple train lines and tram lines running past railways stations so travellers here shouldn't even care. In the outer suburbs trains are not going to be skipping stations when there is only one train available. So one train is running 8 mins late and the next one is due in 2 mins. Get over it.

Commenter

Logic

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

June 06, 2014, 2:47PM

I can't watch the video, only read the report. I am simply commenting on the quotes attributed to Mulder. He says in certain circumstances skipping a station may be justified. His example is if 5 or 6 other trains wil be delayed. That is not unreasonable. He is not attributed to saying they should skip stations just to meet punctuality targets, he does not say it is okay to not service certain stations, he is not saying it is okay for Aaron's train to leave 3 minute early and he is not saying it is not okay to skip stations without annoucing it on board the train first. Aaron you want to complain about me getting personal for calling someone a whinger, well why don't you look at all the hysterical comments made about Mulder for making a reasonable statement? Yes train services should be improved but don't read into Mulder's comments something that isn't there. (If he says something different in the video to what the report has written then I stand to be corrected...as does the reporter.) By the way, I don't get on at Caulfield or one of the lines that go through it, not that it is relavent to my original comment.

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